it starts with a spark (don't snuff it out)
by tonberrys
Summary: A collection focusing on Lily, Marlene, Emmeline, and Mary. [1. In which Marlene's guitar-playing is simultaneously rude and comforting. / 2. Lily has a secret admirer.]
1. Table of Contents

Here is another collection, this time with a focus on some of the ladies from the Marauders' Era - specifically Lily Evans, Marlene McKinnon, Emmeline Vance, and Mary Macdonald. These will most likely align with a consistent headcanon in which Lily, Marlene, and Mary and Gryffindors in the same year, and Emmeline is a Ravenclaw in their year. I know Dorcas and Alice are popular to put within the same group, but this will be working off of a setting where those two are a little older and will thus come into play in drabbles/one-shots that take place once they (minus Mary) are in the Order.

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 _it starts with a spark (don't snuff it out)_

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Table of Contents

2\. **A Song for the Wind** – [Mary, Marlene, Lily, Emmeline] – K+ – _In which Marlene's guitar-playing is simultaneously rude and comforting._

2\. **A Secret Admirer** – [Unresolved Marlene/Lily, Mary] – K+ – _Lily has a secret admirer._


	2. LEMM: A Song for the Wind

I'm a Slytherin in the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments). This was written for Assignment #9, Home Economics & Domestic Magic, Task 12 \- Write about someone and their hobby.

 **Note:** In Marlene and Mary's dialogue, some words are spelled in a way that is meant to be read as having Scottish influence (including "they" for "they're," based on a dialect-related discussion when I was asking around). It's not perfect by any means, but for the sake of clarification, they aren't typos or misspellings. As for time frame, this occurs around their third/fourth year.

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 **A Song for the Wind**

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"Do I need tae thump someain?"

By the time Mary had turned towards the source of the voice, Marlene was already plopping down on the grass. The crisp, late afternoon gust was ruffling her friend's golden blonde ponytail, giving her a messy, flyaway look, but it was probably still better than Mary's own hair. With a hand tucked against her scarf at the crook of her neck, Mary had been holding it in place—a swoop of inky black—but several windblown strands had still managed to whip her in the face several times since settling at the edge of the Black Lake some fifteen minutes ago.

"No mair than normal," Mary admitted, watching as Marlene tugged her guitar around from back to front to cradle it in her lap. "Do I look it?"

"Ye do," Marlene answered, pinching her thumb and index finger together, "a wee bit. Ye have that 'Slytherins are pure twatwaffles' look about ye."

A new day, a new colourful phrase. Marlene had probably picked it up from Potter at Quidditch practice—it seemed like the sort of thing he'd say—but she had hit the mark, even if it was a guess. Earlier that day, Rosier had called Mary a 'muggle freak' just for saying she wished the Beatles would come out with a new record. It wasn't the worst thing he or any of the others in that nasty group of theirs had done, but it was annoying, the way they wanted to turn every difference into a fight. Rosier probably didn't even know who the Beatles were. He was just being a… a 'pure twatwaffle' was sound.

"Are ye writin' any new songs?" Mary asked instead, reaching over to flick the strings of Marlene's guitar in an aimless strum.

"Nothing polite," came the response, but it wasn't Marlene's voice. Twisting around, Mary matched the remark with Lily, whose dark red hair was twisted in a braid to combat the wind. Just behind her, Emmeline's chestnut curls were cupping around her chin and ruffling more messily than usual, whipping up from around the blue and bronze scarf around her neck. Each time she swiped at them, the locks slipped around her fingers and back into her face. Windy days left little room for dignity.

"No' polite, but honest." Marlene's mouth turned up to a grin as Lily settled next to her, then Emmeline on Lily's other side to complete the circle. Shifting her guitar in her lap, Marlene gave it a lively strum. With a warm and lively tone, she started singing:

" _Tae serpent's fangs are poison, an' they waitin' for a fight  
Walk too close an' it'll sink its feared, unholy bite  
But lead that serpent tae its tail, tae venom it would send  
Sinks instead intae tae tail an' brings a bitter end."_

When Lily gave Marlene a sharp look, Mary guessed it was probably because Snape was one of them. Lily still liked him, for some reason, even with his rubbish friends. Marlene added in a spoken—if still sing-song—tone, "In a me'aphor sort o' way," then punctuated with another strum.

"Are snakes jist a tail an' a head?" Mary piped in. "Should no' need much leadin'."

"Snakes do actually have necks, chests, even a pelvis," Emmeline pointed out. When they all looked at her, Emmeline shrugged and tucked a flyaway curl behind her ear. "The tail is relatively short."

"Emme is well reliable." Marlene nodded to Emmeline with a bright smile.

"I like the one about the beauty of the northern lights," Lily said, pulling her legs up to her chest and resting her chin on the the knees. A softer smile had pulled up the corners of her mouth. "We should go someday, just the four of us."

That smile spread around the circle with murmuring agreement, settling on Marlene last as she started to strum a slower, smoother tune. The notes melded into the wind, lingering for a moment before Marlene started to sing again:

" _Tae bonnie northern waters stretch ahead  
Dark as night wi' sparklin' stillness  
Above tae blackest palette, we fin' aurora's light  
A swirl o' vivid colours floatin' softly in tae sky  
Like paint upon tae canvas, it will draw a lovin' sigh  
Tae twinklin' arch o' stars is full o' brilliance…"_

Her voice was comfortably warm, and however annoying the day had been, a bit of guitar-playing had a way of drowning that out, as far as Mary was concerned. For some time, they sat huddled in their circle, giving and taking requests, some from random students passing by. The late afternoon sun cast a burnt orange glow as it began to drop towards the horizon, and the autumn air chilled further in turn. Milling students thinned out on the Hogwarts grounds, heading in towards the promise of supper, and the little circle of friends wandered in as another day came to close.

The wizarding world's problems went deeper than a song, but those songs had a certain feeling to them, if nothing else. Mary would always prefer those feelings over a fight.

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 **Additional Author's Notes**

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 **Applicable Hogwarts Prompts:**

Assignment #9, Home Economics & Domestic Magic, Task 12 \- Write about someone and their hobby.

Insane House Challenge \- 923. (quote) "There are darkness in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights." – Bram Stoker, Dracula  
365 Day Challenge \- 146. (genre) Friendship  
Marauders' Map Madness \- 107. (character) Mary MacDonald, 102. (word) Freak  
Chocolate Frog Cards, Beasts, Fwooper \- Write about someone who can sing beautifully  
Fortnightly Challenges, Princess Lessons, Ariel \- 4. (trait) Musical  
Fortnightly Challenges, Around the Board, Honeydukes \- 20. Write fluff  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Billywig in Angola \- 50. (word) Vivid, 5. (restriction) No characters over the age of 24  
Writing Club, Character Appreciation, Sirius and Bill \- 23. (house) Gryffindor  
Writing Club, Lizzy's Loft, Markiplier \- 1. Write about a good friend  
Writing Club, Showtime, Fiddler on the Roof, Miracle of Miracles \- 6. (color) Red  
Writing Club, Lyric Alley, "You Don't Own Me" \- 12. So just let me be myself  
Writing Club, Ami's Audio Admirations, Adventure Zone, The Crystal Kingdom \- 11. (color) Black  
Writing Club, Em's Emporium, The chill of the air on your cheeks \- 10. (word) Crisp (bonus)  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Days of the Year, National Golf Day \- Write about something that relaxes a character  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Autumn Prompts \- (weather) Windy  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Colour Prompts \- (colour) Burnt Orange  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Air Prompts \- (object) Scarf  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Audrey's Dessert Challenge, Sponge Flavours, Birthday Cake \- (character) Lily Evans  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Ravenclaw Prompts \- (trait) Creative, (object) Ravenclaw Scarf  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Astronomy Prompts, Taurids Meteor Shower \- (word) Beauty

Word Count \- 844


	3. LMM: A Secret Admirer

**Note:** As mentioned in the previous ficlet, Marlene and Mary's dialogue is intended to reflect a Scottish accent, so the spellings are intentional based on my best approximation/research. It's not perfect, but it's meant to communicate the gist of it, at least!

This was written for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry (Challenges & Assignments).

Assignment #9, Home Economics & Domestic Magic, Task 3 \- Write about a secret admirer.

Other Hogwarts prompts are listed in the author's note at the end.

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 **A Secret Admirer**

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"Do either of you have any idea who might have sent it?"

From across the dorm room, Marlene watched the focused profile of one Lily Evans. In her hand, Lily held a piece of parchment—the 'it' in question—scrawled with inconsistent handwriting. In the bottom right hand corner, two roses had been sketched in a twist that rose up from the edge of the page, each petal bunch drawn over a smudge of colour: yellow for one, red for the other. A secret admirer, as Lily had read it.

Like some frantic rabbit, Marlene's heart pattered a little quicker.

"Canna say," Marlene said, lifting her shoulder in an exaggerated shrug, watching the parchment as much as she was watching her friend.

"Looks like a lass," Mary said from her own bed, plopping onto her stomach before fitting her hands up under her chin. Her face was framed by a curtain of black hair, but she didn't seem concerned about swiping it away. "Or a lad with a lass's help. Or a lad with a lass's touch."

"Or a whole gaggle o' lasses," Marlene piped back in, her mouth yammering away by itself as she flourished her arms out in a wide gesture. "Ye've got a fan club."

Lily's face pinkened a little, even as she rolled her eyes. She looked like she wanted to shake her head at them both but seemed to be settling on just tucking a lock of hair behind her ear and continuing to take her earrings out for the night. "That seems a bit excessive, doesn't it?"

"I dinnae make tae rules. It is wha' it is." Feeling a little self-conscious, Marlene shrugged and fell back on the messy splay of red and gold blankets on her bed. Fluffing her own blonde hair out from under her shoulders, Marlene settled an arm under her head like a temporary pillow.

"Ye don't think it's Potter again, do ye?" Mary suggested.

To that, Lily rolled her eyes even more dramatically. "I hope not. That would be just like him, though, making a big flourish of it."

Something fluttered in Marlene's stomach, and she sat up again before scooting towards the head of her bed. Propping up against the pillow, she countered, "Aye, but would Potter let someain take 'is credit? He 'as a gnat's patience."

The other two girls nodded. "Good point," Lily said as she set her earrings in a small box and shut it with a soft thump. "I guess it makes sense why someone wouldn't want to say, but I can't help a bit of curiosity."

"Sometimes, it helps jist tae say it." Marlene shrugged emphatically.

"It does. It was unexpected, but it sweet, whoever sent it." Lily toed off her boots and climbed into her bed, then, pulling up a large textbook from on top of her trunk. "I'm going to finish my Charms reading."

Marlene zipped her lips dramatically, and when Lily flashed her a grin, her stomach flipped a little. It felt stupid and lovely at the same time—strange, but not in a bad way, all covered with a bit of playful Valentine secrecy.

Just saying it was enough.

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 **Additional Author's Notes**

* * *

 **Applicable Hogwarts Prompts:**

Assignment #9, Home Economics & Domestic Magic, Task 3 \- Write about a secret admirer.  
Insane House Challenge \- 928. (relationship) Crush  
365 Day Challenge \- 337. (trope) Secret Admirer  
Marauders' Map \- 158. (object) Parchment, 252. (object) Love Letter  
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Niffler in Suriname \- 7. (word) Gold, 79. Write about Lily Potter  
Slytherin Speed Challenge (72 Hours) Buttons, Pink \- (pairing) Lily/Marlene  
Writing Club, Character Appreciation, Sirius and Bill \- 26. (location) Hogwarts  
Writing Club, Lizzy's Loft, Jessica Kellgren-Fozard \- 5. Write femslash  
Writing Club, Showtime, Fiddler on the Root, Do You Love Me? \- 9. (emotion) Love  
Writing Club, Lyric Alley, "You Don't Own Me" \- 14. I'm young and I love to be young  
Writing Club, Em's Emporium, The Changing of the Leaves \- 11. (colour) Gold  
Writing Club, Bex's Bazaar, The Avengers: Age of Ultron \- 11. Write about someone keeping secrets  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Autumn Prompts \- (object) Boots  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Flowers \- (creature) Rabbit  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Air Element, Air Prompts \- (word) Flutter  
Autumn Seasonal Challenges, Audrey's Dessert Challenge, Toppings, M&Ms \- (theme) Pining

Word Count \- 527


End file.
